Berliner Weissbier - the long version (part 1)

Here, as already promised many times, is my synopsis of the lengthy chapter on Berliner Weisse in "Die Herstellung Obergähriger Biere" by Schönfeld, published in 1902 (pages 68 to 93).

Mashing
The wheat malt and barley should be milled separately because wheat grains are smaller.

The wheat malt should be sprinkled with water (2-4%) a day or two before milling to make the husk more elastic.

Malt should not be stored damp, If it is, the enzymes start to work and this has a negative effect on the head retention of the finished beer.

The proportion of wheat malt to barley malt should be 3:1 or 4:1.

Either an infusion or decoction mash can be employed.

The importance of mashing is demonstrated by the fact that even in large breweries it is performed by the Braumeister himself.

The mashing process is seen as determining the character of the finished beer. Yet, although there are almost as many mashing methods as breweries, different Weissbiers are very similar in character.

Malt is home to many types of bacteria and yeast. One of the vital functions of the mash is to kill all of these and to produce a sterile wort.

Through his own research, Schönfeld has determined the following:

1. In an infusion mash, if the mash is gradually raised in temperature over 1.25 hours to 72.5º C and left at this temperature for half an hour to allow full conversion of starch to sugar, then heated to 76.25 - 77.5º C and kept there until the wort is drawn off, then all bacteria and yeast will be killed.
2. If the final mashing temperature doesn't hit 75º C, then some yeast and bacteria will survive.
3. Some bacteria - coccus and sarcina - thrive in weakly-hopped wort.

That's it for today. More tomorrow